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It’s not an easy task living in Israel these days, the past two weeks were full of violence. Our first baby is due only days from now and this is not the reality I wished him to be born to. That’s why I was grateful when the fighting stopped and it started raining. Clear, wonderful rain, that cleaned up the dust and smelled like winter.

I hope you are all safe and dry, wherever you are.
Have a peaceful week,

This sweet little card was given to my good friend Meital for her birthday awhile ago. I wanted to create something simple and straight forward, yet full of delicate details. It’s all cut by hand, because though the Silhouette is an AWESOME machine – I find hand-cut pieces being more personal and heart warming.

I’ve been terribly neglecting the little green box. There’s so much going on in our lives right now and my crafting skills and efforts were focused elsewhere (I’m nesting like a crazy bird… more about that – on a different post). I have a few things to share with you, but because I’ve been such a bad blogger – I’ll start with this really cool diorama tutorial!

So, what’s a Diorama? one of the dictionary’s definitions is: “a miniature three-dimensional scene, in which models of figures are seen against a background”. Miniature? 3D? Sounds good to me. There are many ways to create a diorama, and if you google it you’ll probably find many versions and ideas. This tutorial will teach you how to make a most basic diorama frame, which you can personalize, change and adjust to your liking. The cool thing about this one is that, not only this is a tiny 3D picture that you can put on display, but it also FLATTENS so you can put it in an envelope and mail it! Pop-up card and diorama, all-in-one!

So – shall we begin?

1. First step will be to choose your papers. I chose a collection of 4 shades of orange cardstock. Feel free to choose patterned paper instead, as long as it’s as heavy as cardstock, so it won’t come out too flimsy.
Next, cut your papers so they’ll measure slightly less than your envelope. My envelope was a 11×15 cm, so I’ve cut all my papers 10×14 cm. The diorama comes out a bit thick, so you’ll want to make sure it slides easily in and out of the envelope. Not using an envelope? cut it any size you want!
Use a pencil and mark a 1 cm inner frame on the back of three of the papers, leaving out the one paper you chose for the back of the diorama. I wanted my shades of orange to go from light (in the front) to dark (on the back), so I left the darkest shade unmarked.

2. Cut out the frames you marked (remember – the back of the diorama stays uncut!). Keep the insides of the frames aside, we’ll use them in a moment.

3. Using the insides of the frames from the previous step, cut two strips of paper from each color. Each strip should measure 10×4 cm. Score the strips using a bone folder or stylus, following the measurements in the picture below. Trim the corners as shown below and fold the strips to create little zig-zags. These pieces are the “hinges” of our little pop-up diorama.

4. Take your first frame, the one you want to place in the front, and add a stripe of glue to the back of one of its shorter edges. Make sure to use the glue on the back – we’re trying to keep the rough edges out of sight!

5. Take one of the “hinges” in the same color as the first frame and attach. Make sure that when you turn the frame over to its right side, everything is neat and aligned, the hinge’s glued tab is not peeking from the side (or the inside) of the frame.
Repeat this step on the other short edge of the frame, with the second coordinating hinge.

6. With the first frame facing down, add a stripe of glue to the inner tab of one of the attached hinges.

7. Place the next frame in line on the hinge, making sure it’s not sticking out on the top or the bottom.

8. Close the tab with the glue on top of the frame. Repeat on the other side.

9. If you made it this far – you got it! You have completed the first scene of your diorama!

10. If you follow steps 4-8 with the rest of the frames, you’ll receive this finished diorama base! I warmly recommend to decorate the last piece – the back of the diorama – in advance. It’s much easier than trying to stick your fingers in there for stamping or gluing…

11. Now you can stamp, cut, punch whatever elements you want, to create your special little scene.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

* I wouldn’t recommend adding more frames if the diorama is meant to be placed in an envelope. However, if it’s purely for decoration, you can add as many frames as you want!
* Use the entire frame, not just its bottom (as I did with the gray flags). It’ll make the diorama seem deeper and more dramatic.
* The back of the diorama doesn’t HAVE to be uncut. You can make it as a frame too, creating a see-through diorama.
* Why cut square frames? keep an approximately 1 cm margin (just to make sure the frame is solid), and cut the inside in the shape of a curtain, clouds, forest branches…
* Frame the diorama in a shadow box to get a very cool 3D decorative piece!

This diorama flattens to fit an envelope, but when pulled out it pops right up and becomes 3 dimensional and awesome!

Sharon, my good friend, is a very talented woman. She’s a brilliant academic, a graceful dancer, a gifted cook… the list goes on and on! This year, on top of the many things she does for fun and leisure, she was up-to-her-neck busy writing her Ph.D, working at the University and treating patients.
For her birthday, my friends and I decided to let her know how proud we are of her for juggling so many things and not (completely) loosing her mind…
This Multitask pop up card is slightly influenced by the image of the Hindu god (Deity) Parvati, with her many arms. Sharon is the fair lady in the center of the card, each of her arms represents one of her talents and occupations. I picked just a few examples to make a point, yet you can see – she’s one busy girl!

I kept the outside of the card clean and simple.

After realizing that there’s no way our many wishes for her will fit in the card, I printed it as a letter and added a small pocket for it on the face of the card.

First of all – a proud announcement – this is the 100th post here at the Little Green Box! I’m far for being the most dedicated blogger (though I should be), yet, I’m quite happy and proud of getting this far and wanting more! Thank you all so much for the support in your comments and e-mails, I’ve learned a lot about the blogging world and about myself – all thanks to you.

This week I want to present a most amazing project I took part in – The Elevated Envelope. You can read all about it here, at the Ephemera blog, by Tara Bliven.
Basically, it means you receive a list of creative people from around the world, and you mail them. REAL mail, with stamps and all ;). The main focus is actually the envelope itself, not the contents. You can make anything at all, and basically “bring it”, getting your creative juices going. You’ll be receiving envelopes from the rest of the people in your group, that way you all get to exchange artsy gifts, on a small scale.
In my list I had some new pen-pals from the US, Canada, Greece, Japan, Germany and the UK. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to open the mailbox and find a hand-painted envelope inside, addressed to you!

After much thought I decided to illustrate my envelopes. I haven’t been drawing for a long time now, it seemed like a wonderful excuse :).
The topic we all got as an inspiration for the summer exchange was the word “Sweet”. The first thing that came to my mind was “summer popsicles”. Israel is SOOOO sticky and steamy this time of year, so what’s more appropriate than a cool popsicle?
This was a chance for me to give my pen-pals a tiny peek of Israel, so for each envelope I chose a different location around the city of Tel Aviv, and illustrated a scene showing someone eating a dripping popsicle. Inside the envelopes I placed small notes on which I wrote a few words about that specific location and added a little gift from me – a popsicle-themed paper bookmark.

Here’s a look at the illustrations, before I folded them into envelopes:

And here they all are, addressed and ready to be sent:

These are the orange cards I made for writing the descriptions of the chosen locations, and the cute popsicle bookmarks.

Time for another tutorial!
This great mechanism is super-easy and actually really basic, but it can be the base for many beautiful 3D cards! I chose butterflies as an example to demonstrate the mechanism, but it could have been anything else: balloons, flowers, little signs with words on them… Be bold and creative, and share your results with me! 🙂

1. Start by choosing the paper you’re going to use. I went for green dotted cardstock for the base of the card. Make sure the base of the card is made out of sturdy, heavy-weight cardstock (and not thin paper).

3. Now would be a good time to make all the bits and pieces that will decorate your card. As the main moving elements I stamped butterflies on an off-white card stock, and cut them out carefully. I also cut some leaves in different shades of green for the background.

Print it out on a A4 sheet of paper and cut the template out, leaving margins around it as shown on the sketch and picture.
Use some masking-tape to attach the template to a piece of patterned paper (I recommend using the same paper as the card’s base. That way the mechanism will blend better and be less visible). Using a stylus or bone-folder, score all the dashed lines of the template. That will allow all the folds to be sharp and accurate. Cut along the continuous lines and remove the template.

5. Fold and unfold all the scored lines to ensure flexible axes. Fold the mechanism in two. Add glue to one of the glue tabs and place the mechanism somewhere along the central fold of the card’s base. Make sure the mechanism’s crease is facing you and is perpendicular to the card base’s crease.

6. Add glue to the other glue tab and shut the card close. Wait for the glue to dry, do not be tempted to open it right away! This is how it’ll look once you open the card.

7. The base of the mechanism is done! To create the arms that carry your main decorative element I suggest using double-thickness paper. Simply glue two pieces of card stock (again, I used the same paper as the card’s base) back to back.

8. Once the glue of your double-sided paper dries, you can cut the arms out of it. You can make them straight or curved – as you wish!

9. Glue an arm to the back of a decorative element (for me, it was a butterfly). Glue the other side of the arm to the mechanism, open and close your card just to make sure nothing peeks out when the card is closed. You can finish the card here, or add more mechanisms and more elements. Notice how attaching the arms to the mechanism’s base in different angles creates a more interesting result.

A few months ago, we celebrated Ruth’s 30th birthday. Ruth has been my good friend for over 25 (!) years, and she is as close as a sister to me. For this special birthday Ruth’s wish was to travel to Thailand once again, to enjoy a good watermelon shake on an island’s beach and to shop like crazy in Bangkok. It seemed like this year she and her husband wouldn’t be able to travel anywhere, yet she kept reminding us about her little birthday fantasy.
To make sure Ruth (almost) gets what she wanted, my girlfriends and I decided to give her the full “Thai experience” – we got her a thai foot massage, followed by an authentic home-made thai meal. We sat down to eat our lovely lunch wearing sarongs and fisherman-pants… Just to make sure the atmosphere is right!

The card I made for the occasion is actually a little booklet, it can be viewed page by page, or opened entirely for display. Though I do have the Silhouette Cameo, and people now assume I cut everything with it, this piece is all illustrated and cut by hand! 🙂

The first page presents the beautiful natural scenery of Thailand, the mountains, the jungle and the elephants.

The second page reflects a scene from Bangkok, the amazing contrast of the majestic temples and the noisy, crouded streets and markets.

The third page is a little taste of the beaches – sand, sun and cocktails 🙂

The fourth page has a spiritual angle to it – for her to be reminded of the impressive Buddha sculptures, the calm monastery gardens and the peaceful expression of the monks.

If you never had the chance to visit Thailand, I warmly recommend it! It’s an exciting and intriguing place.

Ruth my love – you know if it was up to me I would have taken you on a travel to the moon and beyond if I could!